MIAMI — Early in the series, the Heat talked about symbiotic relationships between shooters and attackers and drivers and all parts of the offense. And two of the guys who were so important to all of that were 3-point specialists Mike Miller and Shane Battier.

But in Games 3 and 4, suffice to say Miller and Battier weren’t exactly, shall we say, symbiotic? The two combined to shoot 2-of-16 beyond the arc in those two games, with both makes by Miller.

Then in one very critical stretch — all of 3:34 — of the first quarter of last night’s 106-94 Game 5 victory that eliminated the Knicks, Miller banged in two triples and Battier added another. Battier’s trifecta gave the Heat a lead it never relinquished.

“You shoot a lot of baskets, a lot of shots in your life you know when you miss them, it’s a percentage game,” said Miller, who finished the first round series going 11-of-28 on 3-pointers — including 3-of-5 last night. “You miss a bunch in Games 3 and 4 and the ones you think you can make, hopefully in Games 5, 6 and 7 you make them.

“It’s about opportunity. Sometimes you make them, sometimes you miss them.”

And sometimes you get to come back after a rough outing, as Battier did. The guy who took the brunt of Carmelo Anthony’s 41-point fury defensively in Game 4 was spared as much time on the Knicks stud last night. But he had just as rough a night, in another way.

“I told him after the game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “he needed to ice his whole body down. I think if you took his minutes during the course of the game, he probably spent half his minutes on the floor.”